THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS 20 Friday, November 2, 1919 Allon Refutes Story Attributed to Rabin that Israelis Drove Out Arabs During '48 TEL AVIV (JTA) — Yigal Allon, Israel's former foreign minister who was the commander of Palmach on the central front during Israel's War for Indepen- dence in 1948, last week branded as a total fabrica- tion an alleged "first person account" of the forced ex- • CHIROPRACTIC Life Center 25950 Greenfield, Lincoln Center Oak Park . OPEN 6 DAYS A WEEK 968-3977 BASIC OFFICE CALL. ... 9 0 FAMILY PLAN first member second member or more $10 $2 FAMILY MAXIMUM ... .9 2 MEDICARE PATIENTS . . .$2 pulsion of 50,000 Arab civi- lians from the towns of Lod and Ramle by Israeli forces at the direct orders of then Premier David Ben-Gurion. The account, the subject of a story published in the New York Times, was pur- portedly contained in the original manuscript of the memoirs of former Premier Yitzhak Rabin but deleted from the published Hebrew edition and the English translation by Israeli cen- sors. Rabin was commander of the Harel Brigade which was assigned to eliminate the Jordanian Arab Legion from the Jerusalem-Tel Aviv Road. According to Shipler, "A copy of his manuscript was provided to the New York Times by Peretz Kidron, who trans- lated the book from Hebrew to English." Allon, who was at the time Rabin's superior officer, held a broadcast press conference in Is- rael to refute the Times story. He gave a detailed version of the events dis- cussed. "As the supreme commander of the 'Danny Operation' in July (1948) during which the towns of Lod and Ramle were captured by the Israelis, I did not re- quest permission to evacuate or drive out the City of Hope Helen Rosenberg Cancer Fighters present "A • TOUCH OF EVERYTHING" at Congregation Shaarey Zedek • on Wednesday, November 14th featuring KITTY KELLEY Noted Washington, journalist and author of "Jackie Oh!" speaking at 1:00 p.m. Donation $16.00 for the entire day Includes Continental Breakfast starting at 10:00 a.m. and Luncheon at 12:00 Noon 25 Boutique Booths • Aprons • Robes • Novelties • Bake Sale • White Elephant Sale •Gift Wrapping • Accents in Needlepoint • Artifacts (Primitive Art) • Hattie Schwartz (Stationary) • On a Clear Day (Lucite) • Educational Toys • Elaine Brant Miller (Weaver) • Sweet Dreams (Quilts) • Party Line (Phones) • Marlene's Faces • Air and Sea Travel • Design Jewelry • A Girl's Best Friend • Plants • Heroes World • Gold Jewelry • Costume Jewelry • Tupperware Demonstration • Table Cloths • Purses • Carol Lowenberg (Ktubas) Door Prizes For tickets and information .. . Arlene Cutler Elaine Brickman Sylvia Epstein 557-3519 354-6098 358-3792 Arabs of these towns. Ben-Gurion gave no such order. I gave no such order and there was no such order," he said. "The evacuation of Lod and Ramle by its population was a result of a coincidence of two factors. One was an order from the Arab Legion to clear the town so its unit could embark on a counter- attack and recapture the towns and the panic that engulfed the population. There was no problem of driving (people) out. Any al- legation that Ben-Gurion or anybody else gave such an order is totally without foundation," Allon said. Allon said at his press conference that the Arab Legion did counter-attack at Lod and Ramle and used soldiers disguised as civi- lians in addition to infantry supported by armor. But the attacks were repulsed. Ac- cording to Allon, the events were as follows: "An Israeli mechanized column (commanded by Moshe Dayan) entered the town of Lod on the 12th day of July but had to withdraw under heavy fire and suf- fered significant losses after some 40 minutes. But this raid helped soften the resis- tance of the defenders and by evening units of the Iftah Brigade of the Palmach ap- proached Lod and took over positions on the outskirts of the town. It was a disturb- ing situation. We did not know whether we were occupied by the population or whether we had occupied the town. "Next morning, the units started combing the town and it was then that the Jordanian Arab Legion started its counter-attack while the soldiers in mufti who penetrated during the night fired at the Israeli soldiers. The fire was re- turned and the attack was repulsed and the Is- .raelis completed the oc- cupation of the town. "At that time, the flight of the population started. The Israeli command helped the population by giving them both transportation and water. The reason was sim- ple: the battle went on and fearing the civilians may come between the lines, enter mine fields and inter- fere with operations, the de- cision was to help an orderly escape. "Ramle was taken over without a single shot. At that time, Ramle notables asked the Israelis to enable the population to leave for the Ramallah area (near Jerusalem) via Latrun. I agreed with one provision — that the Arab Legion agreed to accept them. When the Legion's agree- ment was given, I decided to provide them with vehicles and water so that they Beloved is man, for he was created in the image of God. —Pirke Abot Judaism considers life man's most precious posses- sion. • • • • • • • • • • • 11 would not interfere with the battle that was going on in the fields and the orchards. These are the facts," Allon said. In New York, Rabin re- fused today to discuss the report in the New York Times. 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